The Server Configuration File - httpd.conf

ServerType standalone

ServerType can be either `` standalone'' or `` inetd''. On a Unix system, a WWW server can either be run from inetd , or can be started up at system startup. If you run from inetd, the WWW server will only start when a WWW client connects to the server's machine. If you run standalone, a WWW server process should be started up when your machine boots, and will then exist all the time, even when no connections are present. Generally servers that get accessed frequently should be run standalone for performance reasons.

Port 80

Specifies the TCP port for the server to listen on. Port 80 is the default http port, but on a Unix system, ports below 1024 are ``reserved'' and ordinary user programs cannot access them. Thus if you want to run on port 80, the server will have to run as ``root'' and then switch to running with the desired user id after startup. If you don't run on port 80, your URLs must include the port number after the machine name.

User wwwowner

Group www

These two directives specify the username and group for a standalone server started as root to change to after startup. Leaving the server running as root is extremely inadvisable for security reasons, so if you run your server standalone on port 80, you should set these two parameters.

ServerAdmin webweaver@cs.ucl.ac.uk

ServerAdmin specifies the email address the server will give for people to contact when something goes wrong.

ServerRoot /var/spool/httpd/

The directory the server's configuration, error, and log files are kept in.